Originally posted by Miles Teg
I think wc should be the only thing you do in class, ie. no need for excercise. I think excercise is important but better done in your own time.
Skill work in Wing Chun is the most important thing in class time. Good conditioning is important to me personally, but there is conditioning from Wing Chun.
I did karate for 10 years, which I think is almost the opposite of WC. In the Karate I did, the class was basically excercise and not so much technical instruction. Lots of sparring was OK, but I believe the end result of my training was that I was physically strong and fit with little knowledge of how to really fight.
Now I have better idea but I dont have the physical fitness. Of course being both skilled and fit would be the best.
I have a sort of similar experience of karate. I found that by yoga and stretching, running, lifting weights, and skipping rope, my karate "skills" miraculously improved through greater leg strength, flexibility, and endurance. Certainly the amount of punishment that I could sustain and remain operative was improved. Although I don't engage in fighting, kick boxing, or karate anymore, I feel my current self defense skills are superior to mine at that time in my training. Still, if folks have never gotten into tip top shape, they'll never appreciate what they are missing as carryover into both martial arts and life in general. Plus, chicks dig it.
Almost all the skills I learnt at Karate are now useless to me after becoming less fit, but I think WC skills stick to you even if you havent trained in a while or become old.
My karate skills are enhanced by my Wing Chun understanding and training. I can't imagine calling on them though. Wing Chun beats karate any day from my experience. But as Bruce Lee used to lament, it's hard to see how some paunchy old guy looks the part of a martial artist. Every high level martial artist I've seen looks the part.
Regards,
Uber Field Marshall Grendel
Mm Yan Chi Dai---The Cantonese expression Mm Yan Chi Dai, translates to "Misleading other people's children." The idiom is a reference to those teachers who claim an expertise in an art that they do not have and waste the time and treasure of others.
Wing Chun---weaponized Chi (c)